Page 111 - The Mini Horse Magazine 2023 No 1

Early owners of Shetlands had in mind to
enhance the breed by highly selective breeding.
Originally used for work purposes (e.g. pulling
carts in coal mines), the earliest owners embarked
on a journey to improve the breed by careful
Shetland these breeders crossed select ponies towards
selection of crosses with the aforementioned
types. With a goal in mind of form to function,

improving conformation. To that end, the
American Shetland Pony Club has served as
the governing body for over a century and has
established a reliable record of pedigrees and
transfers for the American Shetland. Indeed, the
American Shetland of today reflects the vision Gold Visions Jess Finnegan
of these early owners. The four divisions vary in
height and characteristics. Again, the foundation
in the United States ponies represent the closest of the four types to
the original Shetlands imported from England.
That said, over the last one hundred years or so,
breeding to a different standard has resulted
in a more refined creature with more compact
bodies, smooth muscle, and clean legs.

Classic American Shetlands resembling
something between the Foundation and Modern
in form, are not coarse of build and possess
well-formed ears, prominent eyes, refined
heads, somewhat longer legs, deep chests,
and exquisite toplines that allow them to move
with beauty and grace. The Modern American
Shetlands fall into two height categories – under
43” and 43” – 46.” Their bloodlines include some Crawford AN - sired by Rhapsody’s
Dance on Heir - (Foundation ASPC)
of the largest percentage of Hackney pony out
of all the American Shetland varieties. Closely
resembling a full-size horse, their movement is thousand dollars (five hundred thousand to one
much more animated than the foundation and million dollars today) They purchased entire
classic ponies. herds from farms that were dispersing and
kept the best and culled the rest. Nancy Barrett
The advent of crossing Shetland ponies received their most famous horse, Kewpie
with smaller horses came about in the early Doll’s Oracle as a gift. This gorgeous horse that
1940s with such farms as the Arenosa Pony Audrey Barrett termed “a joy to behold” boasted
Farm. Audrey Barrett and her husband, unparalleled movement. He begat such famous
Clinton, purchased some grade ponies for the horses as Kewpie’s Topper of Arenosa whose
neighborhood children to ride. Ultimately, they pedigree consists of numerous ASPC Congress
purchased some mares for breeding and a Champions. In the 1970s when so many
line of ponies was born that would lead to the American Shetlands glutted the market, a shift
advent of blending American Shetlands with began towards breeding smaller horses. The
smaller ponies that is commonplace today. In value of these ponies had dwindled, so many
the late 1950s, the Barretts purchased some farms such as Arenosa began to cross their
top quality studs between fifty and one hundred larger ponies onto smaller miniature horses.

Miniature Horse Magazine • Issue 1/2023 | 111